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Poster: skuzzlebutt Date: Oct 3, 2009 5:44am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Do you really need 2 time keepers?

Personally, I was less discriminating about a lot of things when I was younger- women, drugs, you name it. Plus, the idea that bringing Mickey back into the fold limited/slowed down the band is hardly new.

There are a ton of post 1976 shows I love; we're really just playing a game of "what if" here.

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Poster: hippie64 Date: Oct 3, 2009 6:44am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Do you really need 2 time keepers?

I've always thought there was a certian amount of magic between the two of them. Mickey always seemed to compliment BK in the best way.I don't like to think I'm jaded in my thinking, I'm no drummer,but I can bang the hell out of a jimbah, talking drum,bongos,conga, my specialty is the triangle :-P its really the highlight of our drum circles.
But what I was trying to convey is there was some complex shit gonna on between the 2 of them, for me you could at least always count on the rhythm section to hold there shit together while the rest of the band wandered.The combination of Phil+Drummer(2)+Keyboard= a steam hammer of a band. I can imagine there were many times when Mickey should of backed off and let Bill nail it down, Maybe Bob and Jerry got that simplicity from other outlets like Ratdog and JGB so when it was time to stage the Dead it was probably a hell of a ride.
Do you really need 2 time keepers? No. I love the sloppy drums of Keith Moon, The precision of Neil Peart, The Power of Jon Bonham, even the swing of Levon Helm, With Bill and Mick I thought they had that in spades, and when it was time for the drum portion,the two of them truly became a beast. Its not coventional thinking really but the Dead never were conventional. Later SB, peace.

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Poster: skuzzlebutt Date: Oct 3, 2009 9:18am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Do you really need 2 time keepers?

I think the two drummer thing worked best in the very early years, definitely 1968 and into '69- very powerful. I just think Billy got so good after a while that Mickey wasn't really necessary for the direction they were heading. As someone noted above, if you listen to the Capitol Theater Feb '71 shows (where Mickey quit after the first night), you barely even notice a difference.

In my mind, the irreducible core of the Grateful Dead is Jerry, Phil, Bob, and Billy. Others have have come and gone over the years, adding flavors along the way, but to me those four are really the essential elements.

None of this is meant as a dig at Mickey, BTW. It's just personal taste.